
Social Media Marketing Strategies To Adopt In 2017
Social media should be the fundamental cornerstone of any such strategy. Of course, other tools such as SEO and SEM can also work wonders for your sales, but a broad reach on various social media platforms will garner your company more visibility and conversion to sales. Social media marketing has provided a great avenue for businesses to do this.
Trends in social media platforms and usage are notoriously fluid, with continuous evolution in technologies and best practices. Therefore, it is also imperative that your social media marketing strategy continues to adapt as well.
Here is a compilation of strategies you can implement in 2017 to make your social media marketing efforts more effective:
Visual Marketing

Visual marketing refers to using unique graphics to communicate with your target audience in such a way as to form a connection with your brand. There has been a noticeable shift on such various social media platforms towards an emphasis on visual content.
Using visual content makes a social media ad campaign more powerful and memorable, leading your target audience to you when it’s time to buy. Apart from graphics such as visuals, the most important way a business can increase this visual communication in 2017 is through the use of videos.
Recent data shows that video uploads increased by more than 75% on Facebook in 2016 alone. The video is ten times more likely to be shared than textual content. They are highly effective in driving up user engagement, for the simple fact that people like watching videos!
Capitalize on this trend by using pop-up graphics and text captions to create videos for your ad campaign. Further opportunities are presented through live videos platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram live videos, and Facebook Live.
Content is still King
Readers are not looking for content with short fluff pieces that do not offer any new or unique information. They are more likely to loyally follow brands that show they know what they are talking about in a particular field.

Aim to share longer blog articles on your website; the recommended is currently between 1,200 and 2,000 words. Ensure your content is informative and useful, emphasizing the ‘why’ or ‘how.’ Your audience will appreciate the effort, and you will establish your brand as a thought-leader in your industry.
Further, focus on telling stories. People buy from whoever they feel they have a connection with, however tenuous. Create a narrative for your product or service, showing how exactly who you are, what you do and how your product or service can impact business or day to day living.
Social Media E-commerce
As more social media platforms develop applications for e-commerce, this is projected to become one of the most profitable avenues for sales. Surveys show that 56 percent of consumers follow brands on social media to see what they are selling.

Sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have already created ways in which users can buy directly from within these apps.
Social media marketers should experiment with advertising on the various platforms to see which is best suited for their brand. They should also be creative in how they utilize new features as they are rolled out.